Kinkaid School offers summer public school program

Published 4:00 pm, Wednesday, August 19, 2015

The Kinkaid EMSI Summer class of 2014. The EMSI program gives public school students the opportunity to take intensive and challenging academic courses in math, science, and computer technology.

The Kinkaid EMSI Summer class of 2014. The EMSI program gives public school students the opportunity to take intensive and challenging academic courses in math, science, and computer technology.

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Students in the EMSI program are given the opportunity to take courses in 3D modeling, computer science, and architectural drafting.

Students in the EMSI program are given the opportunity to take courses in 3D modeling, computer science, and architectural drafting.

Kinkaid School offers summer public school program

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Entering high school freshman at public schools have a great opportunity to sharpen their science and technology skills at a first class learning institution next summer. The Engineering Mathematics and Science Institute (EMSI) is a program started by the Kinkaid School in 1979 that brings promising public school students and exposes them to science and engineering classes they would normally not have the opportunity to take.

Loida Casares’ 14 year-old daughter Miranda is an entering high school freshman at DeBakey High School for Health Professions. Miranda spent the last six weeks taking intensive and challenging academic courses in math, science, and computer technology in the EMSI program.

“I saw early on that she was strong in math and science and there is such a shortage of women in science and engineering so I’ve kind of steered her in that direction and it turns out she’s loved it. If she attends Kinkaid EMSI every summer that will more than prepare her for a career in medicine, math, engineering or science” Casares said.

Prospective students of the program apply the year before they begin their freshman year of high school. The competitive application process includes middle school transcripts, and teacher recommendations that narrow the search to just 60 students who are admitted each year.

Each summer 20 students are weeded out of the program until a final class of 20 graduate their senior year.

What sets the EMSI program apart is the interaction that students get with industry professionals, learning how to use industry applications and exposure to career opportunities in science and technology fields.

“Every year students have a math and science class, the idea is that the students will start off with basic topics and as the years progress it gets more specific. A first year EMSI student, going into the ninth grade, will take hand drafting and will learn from an architect how to read plans and how to draw them and the different perspectives of a building,” said Sheri Offenhauser, program director for the EMSI.

“In the second year they will learn to model in 3D and in their final year of the program they will learn to use AutoCAD where they will learn to use it like professionally like architects and designers.”

The EMSI program was started at Kinkaid in 1979 with the help of local oil and gas companies looking to not only give underprivilidged students the opportunity to learn firsthand about careers in science and technology, but to breed the next generation of oil and gas professionals.

The program is entirely free for students chosen to participate and is funded through donations from corporations, private donations, and educational foundations.

For more information about the EMSI program at The Kinkaid School, visit kinkaid.org.